1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the hair-treatment industry. More particularly, it pertains to an improved apparatus for isolating one or more sections of hair from the rest of a person""s hair to prevent the isolated hair from exposure to chemicals such as bleach, dyes, curling solutions, and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A person""s hair continues to be a popular focal point for decorating and adorning to enhance one""s beauty. While bleaching and dying remain popular along with various hair styles, there is continued emphasis to treating the hair with certain styling apparatus and colorants the end result of which is to have one""s hair fashioned in two or more different colors. Along with this is the popular practice of curling straight hair and straightening curly hair. With each of these different styles, apparatus must be employed to separate some hair from other hair to insure against over-coloring, over-straightening, over-curling or other over-treatment.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,943,946, titled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ISOLATION OF HAIR FROM TREATMENT discloses the combination of an elongated winding member or curling rod, a sheet of material impermeable to hair treatment materials, and a sealing member, or split sleeve, where a section or tress of hair is covered with the sheet of material, wound upon the curling rod, and the split sleeve temporarily spread and placed over the wound hair to isolate that portion of the hair and render it impervious to treatment solutions applied to the remaining hair. This apparatus has proved to be somewhat popular. However, certain drawbacks have been experienced with the apparatus that has prevented widespread acceptance in the industry.
For instance, hair strands overlaying that hair wound on the curling rod tend to slip off the ends of the split sleeve and become mixed with other tresses of hair being treated. In addition, there is no indicator on the split sleeve to direct the hair dresser to begin placing the dye or bleach or other treatment liquid on the overlying hair. Further, the smoothness of the inside surface of the split sleeve, coupled with the fineness of some hair and slipperiness of some solution impervious material sheets, allows the split sleeve to slide longitudinally along the curling rod and uncover a portion of the hair rolled thereon. Finally, while the issued patent suggests polyethylene as a building material for the curling rod and the split sleeve, it has been found to have too slippery a surface, thereby allowing the hair to slip on the curling rod and become loose under the sleeve. This allows entrance of hair treatment solutions into the areas specifically isolated from such treatment materials and thus may mar the hair treatment and ruin its intended effect.
This invention is an improved apparatus for isolating sections of hair from hair treatment materials that overcomes all the disadvantages of the prior art set forth above. The invention comprises a hollow, elongated curling rod on which a hair section is adapted to be wound. The rod is externally and axially concave in order to establish a volume in which the wound hair may reside. A sheet or sheets of material, impermeable to the hair treatment materials, is adapted to be placed on the hair section to overlie it for winding, along with the hair section, onto the curling rod. A split sleeve, hollow, cylindrical sealing member is adapted for fitting over the curling rod and over the hair wound with the sheet of impermeable paper to press upon and seal the hair section and the sheet from other hair treatment materials later applied. A first pair of spaced-apart tabs are provided, each tab extending axially outward from a distal end of the split sleeve, for aid in prying off the split sleeve from the curling rod and the hair wound about it. A second pair of spaced-apart tabs are provided, each tab extending radially outward from exterior the split sleeve and inset from the first pair of spaced-apart tabs, for aid in preventing the hair overlying the split sleeve from sliding axially off the distal ends of the sleeve. Both the first and the second pairs of tabs remain exposed throughout the hair treatment process and allow better control of the hair overlying the split sleeve.
Another aspect of the invention is the providing of an axial bore, centralized in the curling rod for the purpose of temporarily receiving the xe2x80x9crat tailxe2x80x9d or narrow diameter stub of a hair dresser""s comb to provide further control over the curling rod when installing it and removing it from the hair of the customer.
Accordingly, the main object of this invention is a plurality of improvements on the apparatus for isolation of hair from treatment materials disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,943,946 to allow more effective use thereof. Other objects of this invention include a means for improving the split sleeve to allow it to be installed and removed from the treatment area with greater ease than hereinbefore possible.
These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent upon reading the following Description of the Preferred Embodiment taken together with the drawings appended hereto. The scope of protection sought by the inventors herein may be gleaned from a fair reading of the claims that conclude this specification.